Roaring 48ers Celebrate Big Birthday

By MILNE, Amy

THE wildlife at Stewart Island got a whole lot wilder at the weekend when most of the island’s residents, plus invited guests and family from the mainland, turned into party animals for a joint diamond birthday celebration.

Known as the “Roaring 48ers” , Jack Frew, Doug McGrath, Peter Wilson, Alister Eade, Bev Cowie, Russell Squires, Carol Leask, Helen Cave, Bonnie Leask, Margaret Fairhall and Bryan Cronin kicked up their heels together to celebrate turning 60 at the island’s Community Centre.

Mrs Cowie said the event had taken about 18 months of planning and included live entertainment, a wide selection of food and beverages.

Kai moana (seafood) such as paua patties, toheroa patties and lobster was in abundance to fuel guests throughout the night.

Mrs Cowie said the sheer size of the event, with more than 300 invited guests, had meant it had to be split into two shifts because of loading restrictions at the Community Centre. The first half kicked off at 4pm on Saturday with live entertainment by well-known Invercargill musician Dave Kennedy for the first four hours of the party.

But it wasn’t until after 8pm when things really began to liven up after the Roaring 48ers gave a show of their own, performing a “rubbish bag” fashion parade and singing The Sound of Music classic, These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things.

Nostalgic momentum gathered when Invercargill band Vision took the stage. The band, which had its hey-day in Invercargill’s music scene in the 1970s, was a hit with the crowd — rocking it into the wee small hours.

Mrs Cowie said some heads were hurting yesterday morning but it had all been worth it.

“It was a fantastic night.” Ideas were already floating about for what the group could do for their 70th. It would be good fun if we did do it again … .” amy.milne@stl.co.nz

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(c) 2008 Southland Times, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.